The Glacier Valley Rotary club is hosting its annual Pillars of America, where they invite inspirational speakers to deliver important messages about life, to not only members of the community, but primarily to students, in the hope that they can apply that wisdom towards improving their own lives.

Jamie Letterman, President of the Glacier Valley Rotary Club tells us "Being in the community that we're in, students don't always have the opportunity, and adults as well, to see speakers that are inspirational, and that are coming from out of town, something different than what we're used to seeing and so we really think it's a great project in order to inspire our youth and motivate them in areas that they usually wouldn't have exposure to, being in Juneau".

This week's featured speaker was Martin Buser, A four time winner of the Iditarod who has run the race 27 times. He also brings a number of his dogs to Juneau every year to spend the summer on the Glacier providing sled dog rides for visitors.

Mr. Buser relates "They asked me to come down and it just so happens that some of my dogs needed to come down anyway, and instead of flying, which I usually do to these sorts of appearances, I drove 30 dogs down and they will be staying here for the summertime. It just coincidentally dovetailed into the Pillars appearance".

Where, he will be delivering his own unique motivational presentation.
He says, "Today, I'll be talking about perseverance, about goal setting. Since half of the audience is going to be highschooler's, I try to point out that pride comes with a price, and the price is hard work, and thats sort of the message of the day."

And with that message, he hopes to inspire Juneau's youth to strive towards their own betterment, a goal that is shared by the rotary.

According to Jamie Letterman, "We really look for someone who is going to inspire the community and inspire our youth".

And the reactions of the attendees indicated that they had indeed achieved that goal.

Kelsey, a student attendee, stated the message that she garnered from the presentation "Even though you don't win, in finishing, you're a winner, if you finish, you win. It doesn't matter if you're first or last or second, you're always a winner if you finish".